The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them. John 3:31-36
There is this silly YouTuber who records himself telling people jokes that make no sense. The punch line of the video is that people laugh at the joke even if they don't understand. He proceeds to ask them to explain the joke, and they are forced to admit they have no idea what is going on. If I'm honest, these videos are a bit uncomfortable, but I feel like the Bible is the same way at times. I read a passage and I sort of get it, but if I'm honest, I don't really understand.
This passage is an example of something that John does quite a bit to try to help his readers understand the punch line of his stories. He tells a story and then steps outside the story to offer some commentary. John tells a story about the tremendous humility of John the Baptist. One of the lessons from that story is that John is humble and ought to be looked up to, but John doesn't want us to miss another aspect of the story.
Here in verses 31-36, John explains that the point of the story is that Jesus is greater than all others. If we walk away from the previous story thinking that John the Baptist is the hero, we have missed the point. The point is that Jesus is the greatest. Notice his reasoning. He says, "the one who comes from heaven is above all;" (v. 31). The greatest person on earth is no comparison to Jesus, who comes from heaven. (And Jesus thinks John the Baptist is pretty great. See Matthew 11:11). John's humility is just an accurate declaration of the glory of Jesus.
Why is this important for us today? Have you ever tried to be more humble? It's hard, isn't it? Perhaps the best way to increase our humility is to magnify the glory of Jesus. Humility is the natural byproduct of seeing Jesus correctly.
One practice you can try, to help you in this, is to ask yourself what Jesus would do if he were in your shoes. Do you have a challenging conversation that you need to have? Ask yourself, how would Jesus handle that?
He must increase and we must decrease.
by Aaron Bjorklund
